DEBUT COLLABORATIVE ALBUM, THE CHERRY THING, OUT 18th JUNE
ON SMALLTOWN SUPERSOUND

A few weeks ago, Neneh Cherry & The Thing shared their excellent cover of Suicide’s ‘Dream Baby Dream,’ one of many brilliant covers off the group’s collaborative album, The Cherry Thing, out 18th June on Smalltown Supersound. As the release date nears, they’re giving a further glimpse into the range of this project via the video for ‘Accordion,’ the MF Doom song and perhaps the most surprising cover on the album. The mask wearing MF Doom first uttered these words when he collaborated with producer Madlib on the critically acclaimed, Madvillainy (Stones Throw; 2004).

And a few words straight from Miss Neneh on making the video:

” . . . oh how i DO love to work at night!!! getting the blasted contact lenses in was an emotional thing. F**KING near killed me. you’d think it’d be easy but . . . i wasn’t gonna do the blair witch thing now was i so in they had to go! i was late turning up (as per) so we worked all night. Ted the director was full on enthusiastic and Barca were playing Real Madrid on the laptop… full on. Judy Blame came thru with the outfits & Ian Jeffries socked it BiGTiME on the hair & make up . . . made an old biddy look like her young self again! . . . hope Doom gets the joke with the mask…”

In addition to Suicide and MF Doom, The Cherry Thing, Neneh’s first new album in 16 years and debut release with spectacular Scandinavian jazz trio The Thing, features the music of The Stooges, MF Doom, Ornette Coleman, Don Cherry, and Martina Topley-Bird, plus original pieces by Neneh and The Thing’s Mats Gustafsson.

Director Ted Says comments, “we wanted to create an atmosphere that would sit well with the unpredictable music of The Thing and be playful yet creepy. I didn’t want to restrict Neneh too much either – she had to have a platform to do her thing undisturbed. Shooting in darkness, amongst the trees with a bunch of lasers, it was then.”

Swedish rapper/pop star Neneh Cherry (former singer with the Slits and Rip Rig and Panic) has joined forces with Nordic free jazz trio The Thing, to release a collaborative album ‘The Cherry Thing, due out on June 18th through Norwegian label Smalltown Supersound.

A born pioneer, Neneh Cherry fits naturally into the forefront of musical and social change, whether it’s post-punk, rap, or giving the music world a new image of female pop stars: famously, she promoted her breakthrough solo album Raw Like Sushi by getting down on British TV wearing a tight outfit – and seven months pregnant. Breakthroughs mark Cherry’s career, full of individual choices like collaborating with Senegal’s Youssou N’Dour on 7 Seconds which reached number 1 in 48 countries and was voted Song of the Century by the French public in 2000. Her next release, the torch song Woman, was sung in English and Spanish and consolidated Neneh’s respect as a conscious global role model for women and those that appreciate them. Sticking to your artistic guns is the code with which Neneh was raised. Her adaptive approach was molded growing up on the road with her Swedish artist mother Moki and her step-father, world/free jazz trumpet great Don Cherry. Summers were spent in the Swedish forests; with Don’s folks in Watts, L.A; the family loft in New York or with the family of her percussionist father, Amadu Jah, in Sierra Leone. Those formative influences and experiences prepared Neneh for a lifetime of creating with talents as different as they are authentic.

Starting out by joining key punk girl band The Slits, Neneh next became the voice of renegade free-blowing post-punk bohoes Rip, Rig and Panic and their successor: Float Up, C.P. After attracting further attention with her vocals on The The’s classic Slow Train To Dawn , Neneh became part of ‘Buffalo’, the creative collective assembled by the late visionary visualizer Ray Petri, whose style so shaped the 1980s.

Now a solo artist, Cherry hit big straight away with the worldwide hit singles Buffalo Stance, Manchild and Inna City Mamma from her debut album Raw Like Sushi. More followed, like Buddy X from the Homebrew & Man albums, which also featured Woman and 7 Seconds.After the Man album Neneh decided to step off the corporate music business tread mill preferring to collaborate with artists such as Tricky, Damon Albarn on his Gorillaz project & her own family collective cirKus.

Neneh Cherry and The Thing began collaborating in Autumn 2010, and following a performance at Strand, Stockholm in March 2011 decided to continue making music together. Aside from original material, together they play the music of such diverse artists as Ornette Coleman, Neneh’s father Don Cherry, Velvet Underground singer Nico and hip hop artist MF Doom.

The Thing was established in the spring of 2000 when the three musicians met to play several concerts and to record their first CD on the Crazy Wisdom label (brain child of Swedish left field pioneer Conny Lindström).

The album ‘The Cherry Thing’ will be released on June 18th through Smalltown Supersound.

Heres something to hold you over until Madvillian 2 or any other new DOOM project. Some of you might be familiar with the 2006 MF DOOM & Parallel Thought single “Vomit”. Others might remember DOOM’s slightly altered version which appeared on the classic MM.. FOOD. In celebration of 3:33’s inaugural release (Tomorrow!), Parallel Thought let the guys rework the DOOM vocals once again for the exclusive digital bonus track ( 7′ version coming soon!).

A sly no-wave mover, “Bells” is the A-side to last month’s emotional “Drug of Choice” (Download)from the extraordinarily talented family-affair, cirKus .

Accompanying the single is a haunting video for “Bells”

, produced by Sweden’s Deguass and directed by Daniel Annefelt and Fredrick Furstenbach. The video follows a series of cloned men, being spit out of the machines that built them, into another. They continue on in a repetitive, zombie-like existence, as a cog in this other machine, this time enduring more and more abuse. All of this as the legendary Cameron McVey sings “cause we never live / never live / live and learn”. The single is set to be released March 22nd on Booga Bisquit.
Based on an island in Sweden and offering a very punk take on varied musical genres, cirKus merges an extensive musical background with the band’s trademark creative foresight. Cameron built a formidable career helping to launch the careers of Neneh Cherry, Massive Attack (producing their debut, Blue Lines, under his “Booga Bear” pseudonym), Tricky, and Portishead. Wife Neneh Cherry‘s pioneering solo albums are joined by collaborations and involvement with projects include The Slits, Gorillaz, Michael Stipe, Groove Armada, Pulp, Cher, Chrissie Hynde, and Eric Clapton. Adding into the line-up is daughter Lolita’s youthful exuberant vocals and friend Karmil’s luscious guitar stylings, the quartet bridges the gap between Gorillaz, Deerhunter, MF Doom, and Gang of Four, with notes of post-punk, dub, grime and beyond. Their newest release, Medicine, is out May 10th, also on Booga Bisquit.

Download First Single 333EP1
(Soundcloud) (Mediafire)
Too frequently, experimental music has automatically fallen under the generic label of “new” or “different”. Perhaps what is needed is a return to primitive principles, a devolution of sorts. 3:33 is a group that looks to do just that. Evolving from the groundwork of Musique Concrete composers like Pierre Shaeffer andJohn Cage, their music is tense and fiercely experiential; a roller coaster ride through moody beats, haunting jangles, and shrieks that will disquiet the soul. Their sounds are other-worldly, guttural, deeply primal, and sometimes mad; 3:33masterfully brings this motley of noises into communion, and the listener is transported into a world of dark imaginings. Whether entrancing the listener with bone rocking percussion or sending shivers down the spine, the music spins itself seamlessly together into a masterpiece of purposeful chaos. Spinning wild tales, opening trap doors, and shedding light into dark recesses of the soul, the soundscape ultimately leaves the listener with a sense of unnamable disquietude.

3:33 shrouds its identity in mystery, letting the music speak for itself. The group is currently working with Parallel Thought, which has created a solid reputation over the past decade for their work with underground hip-hop notables such as MF Doom, Aesop Rock, and most recently Del the Funky Homosapien.Parallel Thought believes 3:33 will introduce the world to a new style of music altogether, pushing the boundaries of experimentation by sending their audience into an abyss of musical discord.